


If It Walks Like

by deliciousshame



Series: Trope Bingo Round Four [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Animal Transformation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:26:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3815479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliciousshame/pseuds/deliciousshame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's an eagle outside his window. A huge eagle, with feathers a very unnatural shade of dark blue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If It Walks Like

Tetsuya is woken up by Nigou’s barking. That is very rare. Nigou is a well-behaved dog. Apparently he is seeing something objectionable through the window. Tetsuya pushes the sheets away and goes to investigate. 

There is… a very, very big bird staring in his direction from a nearby tree. A bird, an eagle if he’s not mistaken, longer than Nigou, and that’s not even counting his wingspan. Also, it’s not black, like he first thought, but a very deep blue. Indigo. 

Eagles are not blue. Especially not that very familiar shade of blue.

Tetsuya opens the window. “Aomine-kun?”

The eagle takes fly, but changes direction just a second before crashing into the wall. It probably just realised it’s not going to pass through the window, not with those wings. 

Tetsuya looks at the now visibly annoyed eagle. How can an eagle be visibly annoyed, it doesn’t have the facial features for it? He sympathises anyway. Tetsuya doesn’t have time for former teammates who decide to turn into animals for no reason. They just dealt with Kise and his random transformation into a koala a month ago. Not to mention the terrifying week they spent finding Izuki-senpai-as-a-snake everywhere you wouldn’t expect him. At least he had fun.

Well, there’s nothing to do about it. It will pass, like it always does. Tetsuya calls Momoi-san. After ten minutes of her excessive enthusiasm, she confirms that Aomine-kun has changed a few days ago. 

Since he can’t do anything about their current predicament, he does on with his morning routine under the vigilant stare of a huge eagle, who flies over him as he goes to school. Why is he being stalked by a gigantic blue bird of prey? “Aomine-kun, go away. You’re disturbing the neighbors.” Aomine-kun is very eye-catching. Eagles aren’t common, especially not in cities. Both his color and his low altitude make him the target of many pointing fingers. 

Aomine-kun settles on a tree in front of Seirin when they arrive. Isn’t he bored? Shouldn’t he go hunt small animals or something? But no, he stays there all day. Tetsuya checks on him from time to time. Aomine-kun is just watching most of the time, but occasionally hands out surprisingly disgusted glares at his fellow students that throw food at him like he’s a common pigeon. He’s blue, he’s an eagle in a school yard, obviously he’s a human transformed into a bird. They should know better. It could happen to them too. Surely they don’t think the donkey wandering in the yard is just another animal that happens to be around, don’t they? Tetsuya despairs for his colleagues as he exits the main building to go to practice, Aomine-kun following him.

Izuki-senpai’s face brightens to a frightening degree when he spots Aomine-kun resting on a branch. 

Hyuuga-senpai reacts before it’s too late. “No.”

Izuki-senpai falters. “But-“

“No. I will not accept even one wordplay about eagles and eyes today. Not one. If you’re that stupid, I’ll let Riko take care of your punishment.”

The coach has heard it all and approves, if the sudden aura of sadism and doom he can feel somewhere behind him is to be believed.

Izuki-senpai looks like he’ll go for it anyway for a few seconds. Then they all hear the coach’s knuckles cracking ominously. He wisely changes course after that. 

Aomine-kun has chosen this momentary distraction to settle down on the hoop. “Aomine-kun, this is a terrible idea. You’ll be hit.”

“Wait, that’s Aomine?! Why is he following you around?”

If only he could answer Kagami-kun’s question. “I have no idea. It’s not like I can ask him.”

Aomine-kun stubbornly refuses to move from the hoop, which limits practice to the other side of the court. Tetsuya has to stop the coach from throwing a ball at Aomine-kun out of spite multiple times. 

Like usual, he goes to get food with Kagami-kun after practice. It’s while drinking his milkshake that he wonders if he should feed Aomine-kun. Eagles eat live animals. Tetsuya balks at the idea of going to a pet shop to buy a rabbit. He hopes Aomine-kun isn’t looking at that cat they passed a few minutes ago with hunger. He texts Momoi-san, who tells him they’ve been feeding him raw meat. He usually balks a little, she says, but not as much as that one time Imayoshi-san brought a few terrified hamsters for him.

The immense shadow of Aomine-kun’s outstretched wings covers them both for a few seconds. When it disappears, so did something else. “Hey! Aomine, you bastard! Give me back my burger!”

Or maybe Aomine-kun will take care of himself. Tetsuya sighs. Kagami-kun screams at Aomine-kun, perched too high for reach. He manages to radiate smugness from up there. Tetsuya suggests that Kagami-kun leaves that dispute for when Aomine-kun can reply. They each go their separate way after that. It is better that way for all of them. 

He almost tumbles when Aomine-kun descends and decides to perch himself on his shoulder. “Aomine-kun, you’re heavy.” At least he was careful about it. Tetsuya can feel the talons through his shirt, but they didn’t pierce the skin. That can’t be stable. He makes sure not to move too much, for both their sake.

He can’t see him very well from this close, but Aomine-kun makes a very impressive bird. His feathers are stunning, gleaming slightly in the dimming light. They look almost silky. “Can I pet you?” It’s a strange question to ask someone who understands it but can’t answer. He doesn’t fly away when Tetsuya brings his hand to a long wing, feeling both softness and coarseness under his fingertips.

How strange that this is probably the closest he ever was to Aomine-kun.

Aomine-kun stays on his shoulders, precariously balanced, even when he enters his home and Nigou starts barking again. Tetsuya leaves the dog outside for the night. It’s a nice day, he’ll be fine.

Aomine-kun places himself on top of a shelf in Tetsuya’s room and refuses to move once more. Tetsuya doesn’t care. If he wants to stay there all night, so be it. He has homework to do. 

He does end up staying there, even after Tetsuya goes to bed.

When Tetsuya wakes up the next morning, it’s to find himself wrapped in Aomine-kun’s very human arms, his back plastered all along Aomine-kun’s chest, their legs tangled together. Trying to free himself only has Aomine-kun tightening his embrace. That won’t do, for multiple reasons he barely wants to admit to himself. 

“Aomine-kun, please wake up. Why are you in my bed? This isn’t appropriate.”

“I changed back somewhere near three in the morning. I didn’t want to wake you up, but I was still sleepy and I haven’t touched anyone properly in days. Just bear with it for a while and let me sleep.”

Aomine-kun always was a very tactile person. Having wings must have been hard for him, but this isn’t a level of touching he is comfortable with. Or maybe he’s too comfortable with it. Either way, it’s a problem. “We have to rise. We have to go to school.”

“Fuck no. I’m skipping. I’m not wasting my first day as a human in forever at school.”

It has only been a few days. “I’m not. Please let me go.”

Aomine-kun lets his embrace loosen a little and pulls at him until he finds himself on his other side, their faces separated by too few centimeters. “C’mon. I’m not the type to ask for favors, you can do this for me just this once.” 

He’s right. Aomine-kun is often too proud for his own good. It’s not like he doesn’t want to be with him, or like he’s not wondering if Aomine-kun’s hair would be as soft under his fingers as his feathers were yesterday. “School, Aomine-kun. I have to go.”

“One day won’t matter. Trust me, I know.”

“First, that’s not helping, and second, Momoi-san takes notes for you. I’d have to rely on Kagami-kun, which means I’d be better on my own.” Tetsuya starts trying to free himself. Reasoning with Aomine-kun obviously won’t work. 

Maybe reasoning would have been more useful than trying to fight off Aomine-kun. Curse his weak body. 

“You’re wasting your time. Look, I’m going to let you go if you tell me you really want me to, not that I should let you go.”

Tetsuya freezes. He should have known this was one fight he wouldn’t win. “Why were you following me?”

“Being a bird is great for a while but it becomes boring fast. You’re a lot of things, Tetsu, but you’re never boring.” 

Tetsuya feels the heat rising on his cheeks. It’s just a few words, nothing untoward, but here, with Aomine-kun so close he can feel his breath, they carry a weight almost tangible. He hides his face in Aomine-kun’s neck. He will see it as the concession it really is. A day won’t matter much.

**Author's Note:**

> Because that's really important, Aomine is an eastern imperial eagle.


End file.
